The present invention generally relates to a sublimator and a method of making a sublimator, and more specifically to a sublimator having a porous plate with integrally formed primary and secondary heat transfer surfaces.
A sublimator takes a fluid to be cooled and transfers the heat contained therein to a refrigerant that is sublimated. Traditionally, sublimators include a porous plate through which the refrigerant sublimates and a plurality of fins that are individually attached to the porous plate. Depending upon the application, there can be several thousand fins that are attached to the porous plate with each fin segment being incrementally spot welded to the porous plate in many locations. The spot welding is labor intensive and time consuming. Further, maintaining weld quality through this process requires constant tool maintenance and frequent quality inspections which increases overall manufactory cost.